Bowie house fire illustrates difficulties of operations in snow

An early morning fire in Bowie Tuesday displaced a family of four and caused about $20,000 in damage to the family's house, authorities said.

At about 2:45 a.m., Prince George's County emergency responders were called to the 12600 block of Safety Turn in Bowie for the report of a fire in a house. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze to a second-floor bedroom, and they had the flames knocked down in about 20 minutes, authorities said. No one was injured.

The incident provides yet another illustration of how the snow has impacted fire operations.

The first fire company that would have handled the call could not make it because its firefighters were busy helping an ambulance out of the snow. Other career and volunteer firefighters picked up the slack, said Mark Brady, a Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department spokesman.

In the three-day period starting Friday, Prince George's firefighters and paramedics handled 1,823 calls for service. Brady said it was not uncommon for firefighters to have to use four-wheel drive vehicles to access patients in trouble, nor was it unusual for emergency vehicles to get stuck in the snow.